BCP Council is raising council tax by 4.99 per cent – the maximum allowed without triggering a referendum – with millions of pounds in budget cuts in store for the next year.

The total bill for a band D property in the conurbation will top £2,000 after the Conservative leadership fended off other budget proposals including a move to suspend Bournemouth Air Festival.

The council’s previous leader resigned last week after being frustrated in his plan to keep the rise to 2.99 per cent in the face of warnings from government, council officers and auditors.

The council’s Conservative leadership found £1.138million to stave off some spending cuts at the last minute. It received more money than expected from government and worked with other parties to agree a 10 per cent rise in seafront parking charges and a cut to the marketing budget.

New council leader Cllr Philip Broadhead said: “This is a budget which, despite serious global headwinds, balances the books for the forthcoming year, invests heavily into services that protect the most vulnerable in our region, continues the work of putting the council’s finances into a long term sustainable position, increases our unearmarked reviews and also … avoids the wide scale service cuts and closures seen by many local authorities as they face the serious pressures caused by inflation.”

He said inflation had badly hit the council’s budgets, with the cost of powering street lights rising by £2m alone.

This had led many councils to axe leisure centres, libraries, subsidised bus routes and other services to vulnerable people, he said.

He said it was “disappointing that the government changed the rules last year” after ministers stopped the council selling its beach huts to a company that it would own.

“Whilst we’re not able to propose a lower council tax increase this year, not only did we keep trying but our policy of striving towards keeping council tax payers’ money in people’s pockets meant that £62m extra will be kept in those pockets by the end of the next term,” he said.

But Liberal Democrat councillor Mike Cox, moving a slate of budget amendments for the Unity Alliance group of councillors, said: “Despite what Cllr Broadhead said, the irrefutable fact is that BCP is in a dire financial state.

“This budget, which forces us to swallow £32m worth of cuts and savings, is a testament to the failure of the Conservative administration in dabbling in fantasy economics, illegal schemes, vanity projects and weak leadership,” he added.

He said the alliance would conduct a “root and branch review” of finances if it came to power in May’s elections, intending to “weed out excessive expenditure, focus on residents’ priorities” and “restore pride in working for BCP”.

Cllr Mohan Iyengar, former Conservative councillor now with the Poole Engage group, proposed further amendments, including saving £400,000 through a “one-year break” from the air festival.

“The festival will be missed by enthusiasts and it will impact the tourism sector for those four days but it’s a defensible decision in line with similar decisions taken by other authorities around the country to scale back or postpone major events at this time,” he said.

However, Cllr Beverley Dunlop, cabinet member for culture, said: “The air festival in the scheme of things costs us zilch. Take it away and you will lose £200,000 from the seafront, the money the seafront gathers while the air festival is on.

“You’re also going to lose £170,000 from car park income,” she added.

The budget was passed by 34 votes to 17 with 20 abstentions. The Unity Alliance’s proposals were defeated by the chairman’s casting vote after the council was split 35-35 with one abstention. The Poole Engage proposals were lost by 44 votes to eight with 19 abstentions.